Improvement in car and cable couplings



W.. S. NEARING. Car and Cable Coupling.

No. 219,972. Patented Sept. 23,1879.

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INVENTOR:

WITNESSES ORNEYS.

IL PETERS. PHOTO LITHOGRA UNITED STATES PATENJI OFFICE.

WINFIELD S. NEARING, OF MORRIS RUN, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR AND CABLE COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 219,972, datedSeptember 23, 1879 application filed August 19, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WINFIELD S. NEARING, of Morris Run, in the county ofTioga and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved (Jarand Cable Coupling, of which the following is a specification.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the device. Fig. 2 is a side elevationof the same, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a front interior elevation ofthe fixed handle and jaw. Fig. 4 is a front interior elevation of themovable jaw. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the cam-face of the movablehandle.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates to a kind of clamp that is to be attached torailroad-cars or other moving devices for connecting them to wire orother cables that are in motion, so that whenever such car or device isconnected by the clamp to the cable it will be propelled by the same,while it will remain at rest as soon as disconnected.

In my Letters Patent No.134,437, of December 31, 1872, I described aclamp the upper ends of whose jaws were hinged or pivoted together, andthrough whose shanks, about midway between the upper and lower ends,passed the pin of the cam-lever that operated to bring the jaws togetherwhen desired, and that clamp was attached to a car or other device by arope or chain that was made fast to the ring-bolt of the hinge.

My present improvement consists in hingiug the jaws of the clampcentrally instead of at their upper end, and in fixing the pin of thecam-levers in the upper end instead of through the center of the jaws,thereby securing better leverage, greater strength of jaws, and moreconvenient manipulation, and I also dispense with the spring that wasset between the jaw-shanks to keep the jaws apart.

In the drawings, A and B represent, respect-. ively, the two jaws of theclamp, that are hinged or pivoted on the ring-bolt (l, on whose end isscrewed or swiveled a shackle, D. The ring of the bolt and the shackleserve as points of attachment for the chains or ropes E, that hold thedevice to the car that is to be moved.

The lower ends, a, of the jaws are curved or channeled, as distinctlyshown in Fig. 2, that they may more closely grasp the wire or othercable to which they are to connect the car.-

The cam-lever pin F is firmly fixed through or in the rigid handle orlever A, or is made part of it, and projects through the eye b of thehandle or lever B, that moves loosely upon it, and into the curved slot0 of the opposite jaw. Around their eyes or around the pin F,

and in annular shape, the faces of these handles that are opposite eachother are furnished with cams or double -inclined planes d d, so thatwhen the handle or lever B is moved laterally in one direction its lowerend presses outward against the shoulder f of the jaw B, with the effectof bringing and holding the lower ends of the jaws as close together aspossible, and when the motion of the same handle or lever is reversedthe grasp of the jaw' 1 will be loosened.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. The within-described car and cable coupling,consisting of the hinged jaws A and B, cam levers or handles A and B,ring-bolt O, and lever-pin F, constructed and arranged substantially asherein shown and described.

2. The combination of the lever A, jaw A, lever B, jaw B, provided withslot 0 and shoulder f, bolt 0, shackle or swivel D, chain or ropes E,and lever-pin F, substantially as and'for the purpose described.

WINFIELD S. NEARING.

Witnesses:

P. F. ODONNELL, WM. TIPTON.

